November 26, 2024
Contact: Judith Cebula
317.916.7327 | cebulaj@lei.org
National youth-serving organizations will strengthen their work in character formation
INDIANAPOLIS – Lilly Endowment Inc. has awarded grants to eight national youth-serving organizations to support their efforts to help young people develop positive character traits, such as curiosity, empathy, honesty, kindness, responsibility, self-respect, respect for others and courage, among others.
The grants, which total $195 million, range from $15 million to $30 million. The Endowment made the grants through Character Development Through Youth Programs, an initiative designed to help youth-serving organizations create, test, implement and sustain strategies that support character development in the young people they serve in chapters and affiliates throughout the nation.
The grants will support a variety of approaches to fostering character development, which is central to the missions of the organizations. They include delving into the latest research about character development; aligning programs and curricula to focus more on character; expanding use of technology; offering new character development training for staff and volunteers; strengthening capacity to deliver more programs to more youth; and providing funding for local chapters and affiliates that choose to participate in new character development programs offered by their national organizations.
The funded organizations and grant amounts are:
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Tampa, FL | $22.5 million
Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Atlanta, GA | $30 million
Girls Incorporated, New York, NY | $15 million
Girl Scouts of the United States of America, New York, NY | $30 million
Junior Achievement USA, Colorado Springs, CO | $22.5 million
National Boy Scouts of America Foundation, Irving, TX | $30 million
National Council of YMCAs of the United States of America, Chicago, IL | $30 million
National 4-H Council, Washington, DC | $15 million
“From the earliest days of its grantmaking, the Endowment has supported projects to encourage character development, especially among young people,” said Ted Maple, the Endowment’s vice president for education and youth programs. “We are heartened by the thoughtful and strategic approaches these youth-serving organizations are taking to support children and youth in developing character traits that will be important for them in their future roles as individuals, family members and citizens.”
In addition to Character Development Through Youth Programs, the Endowment is supporting projects that encourage character formation among young people in various other settings. In 2023, the Endowment made a $30.7 million grant to Wake Forest University to support the Educating Character Initiative (ECI). The aim of ECI is to provide a wide range of public and private colleges and universities in the U.S. with the resources, funding and other support needed to develop and implement ideas for integrating character education at their institutions.
In 2023, the Endowment approved a $45.5 million grant to the American Camp Association to support the creation of Character at Camp, a multiyear initiative to grow, improve and celebrate character development among young people at camps across the United States. Also, new Endowment grants in 2024 are supporting 15 children’s museums from throughout the country as they develop their efforts to enhance character traits in their exhibitions and other public programs (learn more about these grants here).
About Lilly Endowment
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private foundation created in 1937 by J.K. Lilly, Sr. and his sons Eli and J.K. Jr. through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. Although the gifts of stock remain a financial bedrock of the Endowment, it is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with the founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion. The Endowment funds programs throughout the United States, especially in the field of religion, and maintains a special commitment to its founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.